A Hamas operative who killed Israeli police officer Ch. Insp. Arnon Zmora, during a hostage rescue mission in the central Gaza Strip last summer, was killed in a recent airstrike in the Gaza Strip, the Shin Bet and Israel Defense Forces announced on Saturday.
Muhammad Ahmad Yousef al-Jamal, a member of Hamas, was among those guarding hostages Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov, and Shlomi Ziv, according to the IDF and Shin Bet.
On June 8, 2024, Israeli special forces from the Shin Bet and Israel Police’s elite Yamam unit raided an apartment belonging to Abdallah al-Jamal — Muhammad’s relative and a journalist — in Nuseirat and rescued the three hostages, in a mission later named Operation Arnon after the slain Yamam officer.
As the forces breached the building where the hostages were held, Muhammad al-Jamal shot Zmora fatally. Abdallah al-Jamal and other members of the al-Jamal family were killed during the raid, but not Muhammad.
Hostage Noa Argamani was also rescued in the operation from a separate nearby building.
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Hamas’s government media office claimed at least 274 people were killed amid the operation, an unverified figure that also does not differentiate between combatants and civilians.
Israeli hostages pictured after their rescue from Hamas captivity in Gaza on June 8, 2024. From left: Shlomi Ziv (IDF); Andrey Kozlov and Almog Meir Jan (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90); and Noa Argamani (Courtesy).
Alongside al-Jamal, the recent Israeli Air Force strike also killed Sari Idris Muhammad al-Aqrab, a Hamas terrorist who invaded Israel during the October 7 onslaught and was considered “close” to al-Jamal, the Shin Bet said.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 65,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 471. The toll includes two police officers and three Defense Ministry civilian contractors.
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